In the Global Risks Report 2016, which draws attention to ways that global risks could evolve and interact in the next decade, water crises features highly. Here are five reasons why.

If climate mitigation is about carbon emissions, climate adaptation is about water

Climate change is water change. Urban heat waves, melting snowpack, devastating floods, longer droughts, destructive wildfires, shrinking reservoirs, rising sea levels, desiccating soils, declining groundwater levels – all are consequences of an increase in carbon pollution and all can be traced to the loss or redistribution of fresh water. Whenever we talk about climate volatility, we also mean water volatility,therefore climate adaptation means preparing cities, farms, and industries for intensive periods of drought and flood. Even regions experiencing unusually heavy rainfall will not be able to capture and use excess water without additional storage capacity and more thoughtful management.

Acomprehensive study by McKinsey & Company predicts that, on current trajectories, and even allowing for efficiency gains and excluding the impacts of climate change, in 15 years the world will demand 40% more water than we can sustainably supply. This includes water needed for a burgeoning population, which, by most estimates, will require up to 50% more food by 2050. Agriculture accounts for as much as 90% of global water consumption, and climate change hits agriculture with crippling effects: higher temperatures decrease plant yields, and rainfall extremes can flood or parch crops. In countries with weak governments, a breakdown in food production can spark debilitating political and social crises. For example, a 2015 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences concludes that crop failure due to climate change helped trigger the Syrian civil war.

Moving and treating water consumes energy; generating and using energy consumes water